Vic was startled when he opened his eyes to disembodied music, since that wasn't how life usually worked, but as soon as he remembered the previous day and where he was, he went back to a semi sort-of calm, groaning a little bit. That was how life worked now, at least for him.

He sat upright, and the music turned a little more active. He cocked his head at that. Huh. It's probably still following Dipper and Mabel, so was it just circumstance that it matched me too?

Probably. He shoved that away and looked around him. He must've been in a lot of denial yesterday, because the fact that the world around him was literally animated was a pretty big giveaway as to the fact he was in a cartoon. And it looked so weird! Animation was cool, yeah, but not when he was living in it! It was like being permanently in a 3-D world.

It occurred to him that he didn't know what he looked like, himself. His hair was usually in fluffy black tufts, and that had manifested as a whole bunch of curves, if the clump he'd pulled into his eyes was any indication. It felt normal, though. And he noticed his head was significantly bigger now, in comparison to the rest of his body. Though he didn't think it was quite as bad as the twins.

Then he looked a little closer at his hand, and he had a minor freak-out as he realized that he was now missing a finger.

He yelped and fell out of the bed. He wiggled his hands, but both of them just had four fingers. He actually did that some more, and he was somewhat embarrassed to find himself checking under the bed to see if they had fallen off in the night of something. It was a cartoon. Stuff like that could happen, right?

No such luck. There were no fleshy lumps on the floor. He sighed. Well, at least he'd get it back whenever he ended up getting back to reality.

If he ever got back to reality.

. . . moving on.

He got dressed, but since he didn't really have any clothes other than the ones he'd been wearing, that basically just entailed putting on his shoes and grabbing the jacket Abuelita had put in the closet and told him he could use. Stylistically, it looked kind of like Mabel's sweater, just without the neck bit and with a long tube-y pocket.

Putting it on, he also realized it was far too big on him. Great. Well, it wasn't like he had anything else to wear, and it stayed on him, so it would have to do.

. . . he did put his arm completely through it, wiggling his hand out the other end. As one does.

He wandered out to the kitchen as the music in his head shifted to what he was guessing was the theme song, and Abuelita was there, sipping a cup of something. "Ah, nino, how are you?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh, okay," he said with a shrug. ". . . thanks for the jacket. And for letting me sleep in your house."

"It is no problem."

He awkwardly smiled at her, then looked inside the cabinets. After some searching (and some avoiding the toaster with the exposed wires) he found some cereal and a bowl, so he poured it for himself and started munching on it.

As he ate, he looked around some, mostly out of boredom. His eyes fell on a picture on a stand, with Abuelita and Soos smiling and standing outside the Mystery Shack. The guy was just a kid in the picture, maybe Vic's age, and he had his customary question mark shirt already.

He swallowed what was in his mouth before he asked, "How long has Soos lived with you?"

"Ah, many years," she said calmly. "Ever since he was a ninito, and his vagon de gato of a father left. If he ever shows his face here again . . . !" She was very passionate about Soos's father, apparently.

"Oh. Oh, wow. Okay."

As if on cue, Soos walked in, wearing that same t-shirt. "Vic! How'd you sleep, dude? Was it all right?"

"Yeah, it was fine. The bed was nice and comfy." He took another bite of cereal, looking at the big guy.

"Nice, nice," the handyman said, staring off into space. The only sound was Vic slowly taking another bite, not sure if he'd gotten the mood quite right. "Ah, right. Anyway, you wanna come to the lake with me? Mr. Pines said they're gonna be there too."

The gears in his head started to turn. The theme song had just been playing, which would only happen during an episode, he was guessing. Meaning plot was going to happen. Meaning there was going to be more music. Meaning he would want to know why it was happening. Meaning he would need to be close to the twins.

"Yeah, sure," he ended up saying, and he shoveled another mouthful of food in his face. "When are we going?"

"As soon as you're ready, dawg."

He set his empty bowl on the counter. "I already am."

The music picked up again shortly after they'd gotten into Soos's pickup truck. It was mostly the usual stuff, though he did hear one dramatic sting which made him jump.

"Are you all right, dude?" Soos asked, concerned.

"Huh?! Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He tried to convince himself of that, running a four-fingered hand through his fluffy hair. Some banjo music happened too, and he just tried to look like nothing weird was happening in his head.

They were getting onto the boat when some weird disco music started playing. Maybe a Mabel fantasy? It ended pretty soon, though, and they set sail. Vic leaned over the edge, feeling the somewhat smelly wind blow at his little tufties of hair.

He could see the twins at the dock, with Stan in a boat even more decrepit than he was. "Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" they were chanting.

"Hey, Soos! Twins at our three o'clock!" he called, and the man swerved, driving them over. He blew the horn when they got close, and a little bit of cheerful music started to play. "Hey guys."

"You dudes say something about a monster hunt?" Soos asked.

Soos and Mabel did a weird little greeting thing, and Soos volunteered the boat up for searching for monsters. However, Vic was forced to pay more attention when Stan interrupted.

"All right, all right, let's think this through," the old man said. "You kids could go waste your time on some epic monster-finding adventure, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Great Uncle Stan!"

Little tidbits of music played, depending on where the twins looked. Techno music while Soos danced like a robot, banjo music while Stan wiggled his eyebrows at them from within the sweaty old boat, and heroic music when they looked at what Vic guessed was the island they'd start searching at.

It was like he was reading their minds. It was kind of fun.

"So, whaddya say?" Stan asked, but the twins had already hopped in the boat, and the four of them were driving away. Vic looked out the back and saw how sad Stan was, and he felt a little twinge of guilt, but there was no way he was moving away from the plot. He'd never be able to focus.

Before long, the heroic music picked back up as Dipper pretended to be captain, though Vic stopped that pretty soon since Soos needed some level of focus on driving the boat.

"We're gonna find that gobblewonker!" Mabel declared.

"We're gonna win that photo contest!" Dipper whooped.

"Do any of you dudes have sunscreen?" Soos shouted.

"We're gonna . . . go get sunscreen!"

They drove (did it count as driving if it was a boat?) back to shore, and Vic was a little bummed about no one actually telling him what they were looking for, but as he looked down at the water, he thought he could see the faintest trace of something dark moving along the bottom of the lake . . . perfectly in time to some ominous music.

He gulped.

It seemed like their pit stop was a story break or a time skip or something, because the next swell of music was when Dipper was pacing in front of the three of them.

"All right," he said, "if we want to win this contest, we've gotta do it right. Think. What's the #1 problem with most monster hunts?"

"You're stupid and you don't run away when you should clearly be running away," Vic said instantly.

"You're a side character and you die in the first five minutes of the movie," Soos said, and Vic paled when he realized that was a very good point. (Did the same thing apply to him . . . ? Probably not, this was a kids cartoon . . .) "Dude, am I a side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?"

Vic mumbled, "More than you'd guess," and Mabel must've just barely heard it, 'cuz she gave him a weird look.

"No, no, no. Camera trouble," Dipper corrected. "Say Bigfoot shows up. Soos, be Bigfoot."

They went through a little skit to emphasize the point, which Vic thought was probably unnecessary, but still pretty funny to watch, especially with the dramatic sting when Soos struck his pose.

"That's why I bought seventeen disposable cameras. One on my ankle, three in my jacket, three for each of you, three extras in this bag, and one under my hat."

"That can't be comfortable," Vic frowned.

"Eh, more so than it looks. There's no way we're gonna miss this. OK, everybody, let's test our cameras out."

Vic started snapping pictures of the cliffs around the lake, the water, everything. He seemed to be the only one who didn't lose/break any of his (even Dipper had broken one), and he was, at the same time, thoroughly unamused and finding it utterly hilarious, and it did weird things to his face, which was confused on whether it should be smiling or frowning.

"You'll be lookout," Dipper told his sister, "Soos can work the steering wheel, Vic can . . . uh, help people, and I'll be captain."

Then Mabel got upset because she wanted to be captain, and Vic was forced to intervene. "Guys, guys, what if you, like, share, or something? Maybe alternate who's calling the shots so that nobody get's stuck doing one job?"

"Yeah!" Mabel cheered, and Dipper sighed in a way that kind of sounded like 'fine', though it honestly could've been anything.

"Well, as first co-captain, our #1 order of business is to lure the monster out with this." He gestured to a bucket of fish food with a little sound effect that Vic had no clue how to describe.

Soos looked at it. "Permission to taste some?"

"Granted."

"Permission co-granted."

"Uh, I don't think you want to—"

It turned out about as well as Vic had expected. In an attempt to avoid the flying spit from all Soos's spluttering, he stared out around them. He always had liked water and boats and stuff, and he'd never liked spit-covered fish food.

He heard a sad little bit of banjo music, and his eyes fell on Stan. Various sound effects and musical cues ensued as Stan went through with some antics, though at least Vic could see what was happening somewhat. Stan, with his antics. Stan antics. Stanantics. Stantics.

Hmm. That was an okayish term.

The music didn't pick up again until they neared the island, and it was ominous enough that he shivered. The others were completely oblivious, Mabel making jokes with pelicans and Dipper peering through the fog, but since Soos was the furthest back, he noticed.

"Hey, Vic, is somethin' up?" he asked, and Vic jumped, looking at the big guy. "I just, I dunno, you seem like you're reactin' to stuff we don't know are there, y'know?"

He forced a laugh. "Ha, no way!" Then he looked away and shoveled fish food faster to avoid the conversation. He could still feel Soos's eyes boring into the back of his head.

He was saved by them arriving at Scuttlebutt Island. He pulled up the rear when they started, though he did end up passing Mabel and Soos when they made a butt joke, and he then he moved to the front when Mabel made fun of Dipper for being nervous.

The fog was so thick, he could see maybe two layers of trees, and then it was just blue-gray fog. It was also pretty cold, especially for the summer, making him glad for the jacket Abuelita had given him. A shadow or something passed in the fog, and he leaned forward, peering into it—

A loud growling pulled him out of his musings, and he jumped, clinging to the tree next to him. Then he realized what he was doing, and he let go, his cheeks slightly pink.

The music spiked, and Dipper gasped, "Our lantern!" as a rat took it into the distance. The fog got so much thicker, and Vic backed up to be closer to the group.

"Dude, I don't know, man, maybe this, uh, maybe this isn't worth it," Soos commented dubiously.

"Yeah, how much money is it?" Vic asked.

"Two five-hundreds," Mabel informed him.

His jaw dropped open. "Oh, we are not stopping here." He pulled out a camera and held it at the ready. "Let's do this thing." He forged through the fog, right past a Dipper who looked shocked. He'd probably just been about to say the same thing.

They all followed him after a minute, and they made their way through the creepy foggy woods. Dipper and Vic held the front as Mabel and Soos beatboxed in the back. The two boys had their eyes on the tree line, and Vic got the feeling that both of them wanted to start a conversation but neither of them knew what to say.

"So . . ." Dipper said, and Vic looked at him. Then he went silent again. "Yeah, I've got nothing. Uh, how's the music?"

He shrugged. "It was kind of annoying before I got to your antics, but I'm here now, and it makes more sense. So, that ha—" He got cut off by a deep growling, and he snapped back to attention.

Dipper shushed the others as Vic stepped forward, somewhat perplexing music playing in the background, camera aimed towards where the sound was coming from. The twins started giggling together as they followed him, and he spotted something on the surface of the lake. He flopped down on his belly and snapped a couple pictures of the monstrous shape as the others fell next to him.

They pushed forward to something that kind of sounded like tribal drumming, taking pictures left and right . . . only for it to be a wrecked ship covered in beavers. Vic melted at their cute animation and music as two of them hugged and another one flopped off into the water.

"But . . . but what was that noise, then? I heard a monster noise," Dipper insisted, and the growling picked up again, only for it to be revealed to be a chainsaw one of the beavers was messing with. Vic yelped and rushed forward, picking up the little guy and scolding him for being so dangerous.

"Hey, Vic! I got a picture for you, do you wanna see?" Soos asked, and he brightened up, setting down the big-toothed fella and heading over to the other big-toothed fella, peering over his shoulder and cooing.

"Maybe that old guy was crazy after all," Dipper muttered.

"He did use the word scrapdoodle."

One beaver photoshoot later, Dipper was depressed on a rock and Vic was staring into the distance like he was straight off of Tatooine. At least until there was a low booming, and he returned to the present.

"Hey. Guys, do you feel that?" Dipper asked.

The big rock Dipper had been sitting on disappeared from underneath him, and Vic jumped, nearly losing his balance on the edge. A big tail came out of nowhere and sprayed them with water, and an ominous tone picked up again as something very obviously a monster swam around.

Vic scrambled for his camera as Dipper took a couple of it swimming. And, as the other boy instructed the others on how to use a camera, it rose up behind him. Vic just looked up and took one exquisite photo of its head before he shoved it in his pocket and ran.

Some more adventurous music happened as they ran as fast as humanly possible, dodging falling trees and massive sea monsters. At some point, Dipper nearly killed himself for a picture and Vic nearly got eaten by it, so Soos brought all of them to the boat and drove them away.

As it loomed on the island, chasing them, Vic pulled out his camera again and took some more, this time getting all of its body, its head mid-roar, and it in proportion to Scuttlebutt Island. Despite the danger they were in, he felt a grin spread over his face. Dipper was still freaking out over the cameras.

He grabbed his friend and shook him by the shoulders wildly, staring at him. "IT'S OKAY!" he screamed over the sounds of panic, waving around his camera. "I GOT ONE!"

It was comedic, how relieved that made the other boy.

And then an epic boat chase ensued, involving Stantics, beavers, and a fish in a headlock. The music was so actiony that Vic felt compelled to do something, so he grabbed a tire tied to the boat and chucked it at the pursuing monster.

Of course, it didn't do anything, but it's the thought that counts, right?

More stuff happened. They drove through a pane of glass. Soos tried to pry a beaver off of his face. Mabel drove the boat behind a waterfall. Vic ate a mouthful of dirt when they fell out of the boat, which was now well and truly wrecked. And, best of all, when the gobblewonker tried to swim through, it got stuck, and Vic was able to collect more masterpieces for the contest.

Dipper got some awesome ones too, and both twins cheered, Mabel doing so about a hamster ball, for some reason.

It was all fun and games until a rock fell from the ceiling on the monster's head and it short-circuited.

They all paused, since that was not how life usually worked. Dipper climbed onto the fin as the eyes flashed in and out of existence, and when he banged on it, it sounded like metal.

Vic noted that there was banjo music playing as he followed. It was gradually getting more ominous, though he'd never thought that he'd think banjo music was ominous. Dipper found a hatch, and when they opened it, there was a guy in a scarecrow hat, working a machine.

There was a banjo in there. Vic's mind started to work. There had been banjo music when Soos had first driven him to the lake. Had he been there earlier in the episode? That was TV show logic . . .

"Aw, banjo polish!" he cussed as he noticed that they'd noticed.

"Wha . . . you?" Dipper asked incredulously, and Vic took that to mean that they had, in fact, met him earlier. "You made this? Wha . . . why?"

"Well, I . . . I, uh . . ." He looked away. "I just wanted attention!" he sobbed.

"I still don't understand," Dipper said.

"Well, first I just hootenannied up a bio-mechanical brain wave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick shift with a beard," he said proudly, demonstrating.

Vic's eyes were wide, and even he wasn't sure whether it was in awe or horror.

"OK, yeah, but why did you do it?" Mabel asked.

"Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, nobody pays any attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months!" That . . . that was just sad. "So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a 15-ton aquatic robot." He cackled.

"Fifteen tons?!" Vic asked incredulously, though he went unheard.

"It retrospect, it seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the lengths us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family." Some sadder banjo music, and Dipper pulled out a hat with 'Dippy' stitched on it, presumably by Stan. Mabel had a matching one. They both sighed.

"So . . . did you ever to talk to your son about how you felt?" Mabel asked.

"No, sir, I got to work straight on the robot." A projector popped up with the schematics for the gobblewonker. "I made lots of robots in my day. Like when my wife left me and I created a homicidal pterodactyl-tron." Concerning music started up. "Or when my pal Ernie didn't come to my retirement party, and I constructed an 80-ton shame-bot that exploded the entire downtown area!"

Vic blinked as he cackled again.

"Aha . . . well, time to get back to work on my death ray!" He popped back down.

Vic had so many questions for this guy, so when the others left to spend the day with Stan, he had a conversation with the old guy (his name was apparently McGucket) about the stick-shift-beard thing. It was very enlightening.

And he recommended that he talk to his son, which the old guy agreed to think about (though he was staring at something in his hand, so he wasn't sure how much he was paying attention).

Eventually, it ended because it was getting darker and he would actually need Soos to drive him home, so he slid off the boat to the music that was probably just coincidentally matching him too. He made a mental note to talk to McGucket again. Maybe he was mentally unstable, but that made him really good conversation.

As he swam back the miserable distance with his life jacket, he noticed that big shadow under him again, and he gulped, swimming back to the cave again.

"Uh . . . is there any chance you can take me back to shore?"

Vic sat in Soos's truck as the big guy drove them back to the house. He stared out the window, at the honestly beautiful animation of Gravity Falls, lost in thought. The sunset had mostly faded to twilight, leaving everything bathed in dark pinks and purples and oranges. The cliffs looked surreal, and the trees were amazing.

He amended his statement from that morning. Animation was really cool, even when he was in it. Maybe even cooler when he was in it.

"Vic?" Soos asked, and he was pulled back to reality again, looking at the big guy, who didn't pull his eyes off the road.

"Yeah?"

". . . do you hear things?"

He looked out the window again, quiet. ". . . yeah. I hear music. Like action stuff during the boat chase, and cute stuff with the beavers." They were both quiet for a moment. "How did you know?"

The big guy shrugged. "You zone out a lot when looking at stuff or people, like, I dunno, like you're listening to somethin'."

"Well, I am, so good on you for noticing, I guess."

He hadn't expected Soos to be the first one to figure that out, though he had said that he noticed a whole bunch of weird stuff when they were in the attic the other day. Maybe he was just a little more perceptive about the world than he let on, or maybe it was some fluke.

Either way, it didn't really matter, since he knew now. He nestled into the slightly-too-big jacket and the car seat, calmer than he'd expected to be, especially since he wasn't at home and wasn't going to see it for a while.

The night sky looked really pretty here.

And Vic is back! Seriously, I wasn't planning on working on this one for ages, but . . . um . . . this thing was only one chapter and it already had six followers. Six. On chapter one. I was not ready for this resounding support.

So, uh, I'm glad you like him! He's really fun to write, and I have plans upon plans for him, so just you wait. :)

I did have a little bit of writer's block recently, and I'm still going through some with my other fic, The Code, so yeah. Probably gonna take about as long for the next chapter, though I will not let myself give up on this one. (Something tells me you guys won't let me do that either lol.)

So hang in tight! More will come!